Snoop Dogg
You can meet him on the first day, pretty good upbeat for the festival isn’t it? The scandalous womanizer, movie star and one of the kings of gangsta rap, whose CDs have sold over 20 million copies worldwide. He, Calvin Cordozar Broadus, a.k.a. Snoop Dogg, is America’s most successful rapper, adored and celebrated by millions of fans worldwide, trying to imitate him at four corners of the globe. With Tupac, Ice-T and the heroes of N.W.A they form the pantheon of Wes-Coast hip-hop gods.
Summer 2011, Snoop Dogg leaves the sunny West-Coast behind and heads out to a world-tour in his adidas sweatshirts to present his brand new album, Doggmentary. This album will be the sequel to the almost 40 year old gangsta’s legendary album, Doggystyle and comprises everything that fans expect from Snoop: it’s cool, brash, tough and daring, lowrider, gangsta, pimp i.e.: 100% Snoop Dogg!Portishead
Portishead is the brightest jewel of the Bristol trip-hop scene, just like a monolith arriving from a parallel universe, whose marvelous black surface reflects all major tendencies in today’s contemporary music: miniature and monumental, sad and sublime. 1994 was an exceptionally creative and rich year in pop music, giving you emblematic albums, such as Dookie from Grren Day, Music of the Jilted Generation from Prodigy, Down Spiral from Nine Inch Nails: an array of drastic, merciless, critical, severe and hardly danceable albums, but maybe none of the above mentioned are as important as Dummy, the fantastic creation of the Geoff Barrow – Beth Gibbons collaboration. Dummy was the album of a generation, with evergreen songs such as Sour Times, Numb or Wandering Star. Each of them are grave tunes, however they’re breathing, they’re heroic and according to a number of critics one of the most beautiful pieces of music, ever written about the unbearable simplicity of existence. Portishead repeated Dummy’s success three years later: on the album, titled Portishead the New York Philharmonic Orchestra played along with them. In 2008 they published their third work, titled Third, and only three years later they’re here, at Heineken Balaton Sound as maybe the most important trip-hop formation ever. You can be sure: when the sun goes down, Portishead comes on stage, or more precisely: When Portishead goes on stage, the sun goes down.Mika
The boy, who knew too much. This is the title of Michael Holbrook Penniman’s or Mika’s second album, issued asptember 2009 by Universal. Maybe this title captures best the essence of the Mika-phenomenon. Mika is one of the most talented performers of contemporary pop music, a figure who knows everything about what makes a pop star. We can tell, he was born to do this!
Since opening his wings, Mika received the BRIT Awards, for being the most groundbreaking performer, but he doesn’t care as much about awards as he does about work, just like when his family moved from Beirut to London with a little bypass at Paris and he had to play for a living. Back then he was paid only 45 pounds for singing under a chewing-gum ad, but today some would sacrifice much more even just to see their favorite pop star. This year, the organizers of Heineken Balaton Sound bring down a real star from the sky, right to the main stage! So just relax and take is eeeasy! ;)Underworld
Put your hands up if you haven’t heard legends about Underworld’s mind-blowing concert at the 2009 Balaton Sound! Not too many hands in the air right? This year, everyone will have the opportunity to listen to Britain’s most important electro-teamKarl Hyle and Rick Smith, playing Born Slippy or the trance anthem of Trainspotting, the cult-movie by Danny Boyle. Underworld is a major actor in the new wave of electronic music, giving a significant upbeat to the field in the 90’s. Even today they’re very active and the hypnotic experience of A Hundred Days Off (2002) and Oblivion with Bells (2007) continued with last year’s Barking. This grandiose mass-hypnosis conquers all of your senses and Underworld lovers can be sure, that this year’s experience will be just as spectacular as it always used to be. The Hyle-Smith duo squeezes out the maximum of Heineken Balaton Sound with suggestive graphics: just one more step towards eternity!Parov Stelar
The Parov Stelar Band fused tradition and progress in their work by combining the inspiration of jazz culture and the most modern electro sounds. The beauty of their atmospheric songs effects the audience with the power of unscrambling the most inspired pieces of avant-garde art. The difference with the spontaneously huddled avant-garde and Parov Stelar’s music is that, the latter is based on strong musical structures, that makes Marcus Füreder’s production the brightest icon of the Austrian electro and jazz schools.
„Music has to develop and progress, just like everything else in real life.
But we gave to give room for nostalgia and remembering our roots, so that we can recall the beauty of old times” – said Marcus Füreder four years ago, trying to summarize the essence of the work of Parov Stelar, at the appearance of their album, Shine.
